Norwich City Council puts off Reid & Hughes roof decision

The fate of downtown’s landmark Reid & Hughes building will be decided over the next several months, with the City Council saying Tuesday they’re prepared to put public money behind a viable development proposal.

The fate of downtown’s landmark Reid & Hughes building will be decided over the next several months, with the City Council saying Tuesday they’re prepared to put public money behind a viable development proposal.

However, aldermen are just as ready to authorize tearing down the 193-201 Main St. structure if private sector interest isn’t there.

The council on Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to spend $70,000 on repairs to the building’s weakened roof, but authorized Norwich Community Development Corp. to issue a request for proposals in the hope of getting attention from investors who may want to rehabilitate it.

NCDC President Bob Mills said the RFP could be circulated by October, and officials have set a tentative December deadline for responses.

“I want something good to happen out of that, I hope it does. But if it doesn’t, we have to be prepared to take alternative action,” Alderman Mark Bettencourt said. “This is something that needs to be done one way or the other.”

Since taking ownership of the 24,390-square-foot parcel in 1993, the city has lost out on nearly $1.8 million in tax and utility revenues, and can expect to add $85,000 a year to that figure if it continues to do nothing, according to a 17-page NCDC assessment and options report issued by the agency in August.

Reid & Hughes is in the Downtown Norwich Historic District, making any developer eligible for tax credits to help offset project costs.

City Historian Dale Plummer said officials should highlight that point as they move forward marketing the RFP.

“We need to start looking at the national register listing as a powerful tool for economic development,” Plummer said.

Resident David Bishop, who lives on Cherry Hill Road, urged the city to “discard the ‘do nothing’ agenda of the Reid & Hughes building.”

“Restoring a historic structure in the center of the city is better than putting a hole in the ground,” he said.

Kathleen Murphy, a regular at City Council meetings, disagreed.

“Personally, I feel we should tear it down. Such action would provide a much brighter future for our city as it would open up new investment in a prime location in our city,” she said.

NCDC puts a price tag of $6 million on the renovations, including a $1.2 million outlay from the city in bonds and other incentives.

Other options, according to the analysis, include spending between $574,000 and $797,000 to save its cast-iron façade, tear down the circa-1880 building altogether or moving forward with its rehabilitation, per the RFP.

Building Official Jim Troeger offered a grim assessment on the building’s condition.

“I just can’t see what you’re going to be preserving by putting $70,000 into that deteriorated portion. All these floor systems are totally disintegrated. You’re going to put a membrane over portions of the structure that are going to have to be replaced or demolished in their entirety and have to be rebuilt,” he said.

Page 2 of 2 - Though they didn’t vote on it, aldermen said they were reluctant to spend $70,000 on a roof replacement without assurances of larger-scale improvements at the site.

“I don’t think we should spend this money on the roof. I think any developer that comes to town is going to tear it off anyway, and building it is going to add weight on top of an already compromised building,” alderwoman Sofee Noblick said.

Her colleague, Tucker Braddock, said he was frustrated at the lack of action by city leaders regarding the controversial building.

“When I first came on the council, I was real excited about the Reid & Hughes building. Four years have gone by and we’ve talked about putting it back on the tax rolls, we’ve talked about saving it, but it’s all been talk and I hope the next council that sits here does something about it,” he said.